The present invention pertains to an attachable clip. More particularly, the present invention pertains to an attachable clip for an eyeglass frame, or the like.
Nearly everyone wears some form of eyeglasses. For example, many people wear prescription glasses to correct various vision problems. Also, many people wear sunglasses to combat the effects of glare from strong sunlight. In particular, pilots wear sunglasses when flying to protect their eyes from strong exposure to the sun's rays and to improve their vision. In the case of airplane pilots, sunglasses are particularly important piece of safety equipment. Thus, maintenance of a pilot's sunglasses is a major concern. Also, industry makes wide use of safety glasses to protect the wearer's eyes from physical harm.
However, there are often times when one removes the glasses from one's head. For example, reading glasses are effective for helping one to read but actually diminish vision if the wearer focuses on a distant object. The same is true for other forms of prescription glasses which are effective for correcting particular vision problems but are ineffective and diminish vision if used during an activity for which they are not designed. Also, in the case of sunglasses, the inherent light blocking properties of the darkened lenses makes the sunglasses ineffective and detrimental for use indoors or when the sun is not bright. Further, safety glasses are normally removed when exiting the actual production area of a factory.
Therefore, there are many times when a eyeglass wearer will remove the glasses from his head. During these times, the glasses must be placed in a safe location to prevent damage. Commonly, the glasses are placed in a case and carried around. However, this is inefficient because of the necessity for having the case present even at times when the glasses are being worn and the difficulties of carrying around both the case and the glasses.
More commonly, an eyeglass wearer will remove the glass from his head, fold them up and place them in a convenient location, such as a shirt pocket. A shirt pocket provides soft fabric protection for the lenses which will not scratch or mar the lens surface. Also, the shirt pocket is a functional aspect of the shirt being worn by the user and therefore does not necessitate the addition of, for example, an added carrying case. However, when the eyeglasses are placed in the shirt pocket they often fall out during times, for example, when the wearer bends over or walks briskly. In most cases, the eyeglasses can fall from the shirt pocket onto the ground and become damaged.
There have been attempts in the past to provide a means for securing eyeglasses to an article such as a shirt pocket. U.S. Pat. No. 3,210,814, issued to Wolf, discloses a resilient clip attachment for eyeglass temple bars.
However, this resilient detachable clip taught by Wolf is relatively complicated to manufacture due to the requirement of many complicated bending operations necessary for its manufacture. Also, the resilient clip taught by Wolf has limited adaptability for attachment to eyeglass frame stems of varying widths and thicknesses. Further, the detachable clip taught by Wolf is relatively difficult to attach to an eyeglass frame stem by a user.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,038,377, issued to Maxson, also teaches a clasp for use on the temple bars of eyeglasses. However, as with Wolf, the clasp taught by Maxson requires many complicated manufacturing procedures and cannot be fitted to existing frames.
Therefore, there is a need for an attachable clip for an eyeglass frame which requires relatively simple manufacturing procedures and which is effectively adaptable for varying widths and thicknesses of stems of the eyeglasses. Furthermore, it must be easy to install or remove by the user.